


There In Spirit

by Defective_Avian



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Batman: A Death in the Family, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Ghost Jason Todd, Ghost Tim Drake, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, M/M, ghost au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:00:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22437556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Defective_Avian/pseuds/Defective_Avian
Summary: He let out a small sob, feeling burning at his eyes, but unable to let tears fall. Of course, he was dead. And ghosts didn’t cry.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne & Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Tim Drake, Jason Todd/Tim Drake
Comments: 8
Kudos: 176





	There In Spirit

Jason was vaguely aware of a cool haze surrounding him. Considering he was pretty sure he had just been blown to bits, he didn’t know whether to find this concerning or not. He wasn’t in pain, in fact, he couldn’t feel anything at all. Almost like he had been shot with morphine. Was he rescued? Or was he dreaming? Had any of that been real. Jason finally opened his eyes, and saw faint stars high in the sky. In his peripheral, he could see jutting timber, and metal, smoking and popping.

Okay….definitely not a dream.

That still didn’t explain why he felt weird. Of course he won’t feel GOOD after his beating, but he had expected to feel something. Maybe the explosion had burned all his nerve ends off.

Still he was scared to move, not wanting to reunite himself with his trauma just yet. He could wait till B……

Where had he been? He had been stopping the poisoning of all those people. He had had no choice. He had had to trust Jason would wait. He should’ve known he won’t. Couldn’t. And he had gone anyway.

Left Jason behind.

Jason tried to rationalize his thoughts it was not B’s fault. Should he have known Jason well enough that he would know Jason could not leave his mother in danger. Probably. But The Batman hadn’t been reckless. _The Batman_ hadn’t been stupid. _The Batman_ hadn’t been so naive. And the sudden heartache of his mother’s betrayal, was almost worst than he pain. 

How could he have been so stupid?

He was suddenly aware of scraping and panting close by. Hurried footfalls and the sound of stumbling. Then his named being yelled in a panicked voice.

Jason turned his head slightly, laying eyes on his mentor digging through the rubble, a hundred yards away. Jason opened his almost certainly broken jaw. It didn’t hurt, but it seemed to resist slightly when he tried to move it. Letting out a moan. “Bruce…..”

He didn’t seem to have been heard. He tried again. “Bruce!”

His voice was wrong. It stilled sounded like him. But as if he were talking up from a deep well. It was echoy, and wet sounding.

Batman seemed to move closer, but he wasn’t looking at Jason, he was still scouring rubble. He was about to repeat his cry for a third time, when the bats head seemed to finally land on him.

He froze. His hands were shaking. He and Jason were staring into each others eyes. Then he hesitantly stepped forward, gaining speed with every step, shouting his name. Jason’s response didn’t seem to calm him in the slightest.

He fell to his knees, in front of him, staring at his face with disbelief. Before Jason could say anything, The Bat grabbed his wrist and felt his pulse. Jason could see his hand being lifted, but couldn’t feel it. He just stared at Batman, as his face crumbled and he let out a strangled sob. He closed his eyes, and Jason stared up at him, wanting to reassure his mentor, reassure him that he was OK. But he didn’t know how. He wasn’t OK. Something was very wrong. Batman smoothed back his hair, and began to lift him up. And…

Jason was staring up from his place on the ground, at his father sobbing over his body, softly cradling his bloody from against his chest.

The boy in Bruce’s arms was dead, appeared to have been for a little while now, the blood had already started to dry in some places. But if his body was gone…...then he was a. Jason looked down at himself for the first time, and saw a milky white imprint of his body. Even without real color, Jason could see the darker sections of his uniform, where his blood had soaked through. Jason sat up, and felt no pain, but with difficulty. He reached on to batman, praying he could fix this, but his hand felt as though it would sink through batman’s arm.

He slowly raised his head to look at Jason, like he could feel something, but made no indication that he saw his son.

He stood up, readjusting the body in his arms, and in the smoldering light of the embers, Jason could see silent tears slide down his face. He turned then and was walking off.

“Bruce!”

No answer.

“Bruce!!!”

He tried to stand up but stumbled, on his obviously broken legs. He got up anyway, and began to follow his mentor, his father, trying to get his attention. _He was still here!_ _He wasn’t gone!_

But he realized he would never get to them with his broken body. Broken spirit. He fell to the ground again, and when he got up Batman was farther still, and Jason was left standing here, among the wreckage.

He sunk to his knees, to numb to think about anything besides that he was alone. And no one would come and save him.

He let out a small sob, feeling burning at his eyes, but unable to let tears fall. Of course, he was dead. And ghosts didn’t cry.

He curled into a ball, having to manually move his broken limbs, with his less battered arm.

He stared into the ground. Staring at the dark, charred wood below him. He closed his eyes but could still see the ground, it was just a little foggier. Slightly better. He kept his focus on the ground, and tried to will himself awake from this nightmare.

*******

He felt a touch, it shocked him into silence, he hadn’t realized he’d been quietly sobbing. Jason lifted his head to look at the newcomer. Hoping to see Bruce, there to comfort him, but was greeted with the appearance of an unfamiliar boy. The boy was milky white, his semi-translucent black hair was plastered to his skull and his face seemed to be flecked with something dark, his clothes clung to him like he had been doused with a bucket of water, and his shirt was stained the same color as the specks, congregating at a hole on his chest that resembled a bullet hole. He was giving Jason a small tight smile, but he looked like he wanted to cry too.

“Jason.” The boy said in that echoy voice, though his sounded younger, and more childlike.

Jason continued to stare, not believing what was in front of him. This boy appeared to be a ghost. Jason choked at the thought, that this would be the company he kept for now on.

“I’m sorry.” the boy said, and Jason gazed into his eyes. The boy still had a hand on his shoulder.

“Who-” He started but stopped. The boy stood silent, sorrowful eyes focused on him.

“My name is Timothy, Timothy Drake. We’ve never met, but you know me.”

That name seemed to ring a bell, but Jason wasn’t able to pinpoint where he had heard the name before.

“Why are you here?” Jason said as he attempted to rise to his feet, the boy held out the hand that had been on his shoulder, and he hesitantly grabbed onto it. It felt surprisingly solid.

The boy’s-Timothy’s eyes were still boring into him.

“I’ve come to help you.”

“Help me with what.”

“Well…..your dead.” He grimaced. “I’m here to help you move on.”

“…...Are you an angel?” Jason felt stupid for asking it, but he had to know.

The boy shook his head, quirking his lips a little. “No, I’m not sure they even exist. I’m here to help you move on. You probably don’t need help, you’d find where you had to go eventually, but people who care about the deceased often will come get them. At least….that’s what I’ve heard.”

Timothy’s face grew sad then and he seemed to be thinking about something. He snapped out of it, and looked around. Obviously looking for Jason’s other deceased loved ones. Jason looked around too. They were alone. Jason’s heart clenched at the realization, that if the boy was telling the truth, then no one cared enough to greet him. He didn’t have that many relatives, just his parents and-

“Did my Mom survive?” Jason didn’t know if he wanted to know.

Timothy shook his head. “Shelia died shortly after you…...She was able to tell Bruce, she was sorry for what she did too you.”

Jason pushed down the rush of resentment that those words sparked. _So she was SORRY was she?_ “Oh” He looked around. “where….?”

Both boys scanned the area. No one else was in sight. “She might have moved on already. As I said loved ones usu-”

“IF SHE WAS SORRY WHY DIDN’T SHE WAIT!?! IF SHE CARED WHY ISN’T SHE HERE?!?” Timothy didn’t answer, which only made him angrier. “AND WHO THE FUCK ARE _YOU_ ANYWAY?!? HOW DO _YOU_ KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT ME?!?! HOW DO I KNOW I CAN EVEN TRUST YOU!?! Jason balled his fist. “If you know so much about me, you should know that trusting doesn’t work out well for me. I _trusted_ my mom to not go and overdose! I _trusted_ my dad not to get his stupid ass thrown in jail! I _TRUSTED_ Shelia _not to fucking abandon me!_ I _TRUSTED_ BRUCE NOT-”

He froze, the boy was staring at him, like he was afraid Jason was gonna hurt him. Jason looked down at his clenched fist. He unclenched, letting out a shaky sigh. He met the boy’s eyes. This seemed to jolt him out of his silence.

“I told you I’m Tim Drake. You might not remember me, but you tried to rescue me when I was kidnapped for that ransom. You and Batman. They didn’t end up keeping their end of the bargain, and they killed me when they got the money. The police found my body in the Gotham bay.” The boy seemed to be lost in his story now, and Jason was gazing at him, listening.

He remembered this boy now. He was the son of that rich couple that ran Drake Industries. It had been all over the news, he and the Bats had worked to find the boy, until he had turned up dead. Then it had become a homicide investigation.

“You brought my killers to justice. Just like I knew you would.” He stared at Jason earnestly. “You were my _hero_! I used to follow you and Batman around with a camera, I looked up to you, and Dick, and Bruce Wayne, your _heroes_!” The boy was so close now, that Jason could've felt his breath if he had any.

“When I died, no one was waiting for me here. All my family were still alive, I was never close with any of them anyway.” Tim stared up at Jason. “I loved them, I really did, but they didn’t really miss me. So I decided I would watch over you” He smiled. “When you were on patrol I watched your back, just like I used to. Of course….I couldn’t actually help you with anything, but I was offering moral support. I wanted to be there for you...just, just in case.”

Tim fell silent. It was clear they were both replaying the nights events in their heads.

“Thank you.” Jason murmured. He didn’t know what to say.

It filled him with a peculiar warmth, at the thought that this boy had cared enough for him to watch over him in his life. To try to protect him in his own way, and to help him now. At the same time, the fact that this young boy he had never met and had never met him, cared enough to see him, _but his own family didn’t_ …. It made the bitter feeling come alive again.

Still…..he _was_ grateful.

The boy looked guiltily at him. Seeming to guess what Jason was thinking.

“Are you ready?”

Jason looked at Tim warily. “To…...move on?”

Tim nodded. He held out his hand to Jason, which he hesitantly took. What did he have to lose?

Tim led him away from the wreckage and Jason asked. “Am I….am I going to heaven?”

“Sorta, but it’s not really a golden gate with angels, and harps. It’s like this world, but different.”

He led him over to a spot bathed in moonlight, and a question occurred to Jason as he gazed at Tim’s blood stained back.

“Hey Tim.”

“Yes?”

“Do we stay like _this…_ forever?” He gestured down to their bloody and broken bodies.

“No” Tim grabbed both of Jason’s hands gently and led him to stand in the moonlight. He smiled up at him.

“I wanted to wait for you that’s why I’m still like this. It’s my unfinished business.” He smiled at Jason and the specks seemed to be fading from his face.

Jason gulped and asked. “And now?”

“You and me can move on.”

It was a statement, but it seemed to indicate, that Jason could stay if he wanted too.

He looked back one last time at the wreckage behind him.

“Can I come get them...when the time comes?”

Tim nodded.

With that knowledge, Jason smiled and let himself follow the boy into the light.

**Author's Note:**

> If there's enough interest, I might continue this. But it would probably take me a while to write. If you notice any mistakes please tell me and I'll fix them, I'm not always good at editing.


End file.
